Police say son killed parents in Calif. murder-suicide

TURLOCK, Calif. — One of two adult sons in a family of four found dead inside a California home in June fatally stabbed his parents before he and the other son died in an arson fire there, police said.

Rodney Bowman, 39, stabbed his parents multiple times before he and the other son, Robert Babakhan, 42, died of exposure to smoke and toxic chemicals from the fire, Turlock police said Tuesday.

It was unclear who started the fire or what motivated the stabbings of Sarkis Babakhan, 78, and Rozmary Babakhan, 70. Robert Babakhan was disabled and died after the fire extinguished itself, police said.

Police spokeswoman Mayra Lewis declined to elaborate in a call Wednesday.

Authorities initially described the deaths as a murder-suicide and said the bodies were found in various places inside the house. They said the four family members had been dead at least 24 hours before officers found them June 26.